The Adventures of Horace Tidwiddler by jlee smith (book suggestions txt) 📕

right hand. He then said, “We are honored to have to have been of service. Blanco advised them that he had spoken to the
other families and they had agreed to let the band of travelers join them as far as the village of Mottlee.
The rest of the day was spent doing minor repairs to the gypsy wagons and tending to the various livestock. Horace helped bring water from a nearby well for the livestock. He then helped grease all the wagon wheels. By late afternoon he was surprised how much work went into taking care of wagons. He then sat under a large oak tree with Dylan in his lap until it was almost dark. Blanco came by later and joined them under the tree. Horace said, “What exactly do you and Bruno do for a living?” Blanco smiled and said, “That’s a long story.” “We have traveled many roads and visited many villages and cities. We have even performed on stage but usually we perform in a tent.” Bruno waked up about this time and said, “We use to perform in a tent. The operative words being Use To.” “That was until Mr. I Know What I am Doing burned it down.” Blanco turned to Bruno and said in a very low voice, “I said, I was sorry, and that it was an accident.” Bruno said, “Some accident, what kind of idiot sets both ends of a stick on fire and starts twirling it, then to make matters worse, he tosses it high in the air, in a tent for god’s sake, for a grand finale? It was a grand finale all right, burnt the whole thing plumb to the ground.” Blanco said, “Okay, Okay, I’m sorry.” Bruno said, “thank god my unicycle was outside. It was just about all that was saved.” Horace looked at Bruno and asked, “What’s a unicycle?”
Bruno said it was just about the most fun thing he had ever owned. He told Horace to wait and then he rushed off to one of the wagons. In a few minutes Horace saw something come out from between the wagons. It was a big brown bear sitting on a small seat that somehow was attached to the top of a single small wheel with peddles on both sides. Bruno the bear was peddling like crazy. He would paddle the thing forward, then he would peddle it backward. He had made about two turns around the tree when Horace yelled, “teach me, teach me.” “I want to ride it. I want to ride it.”
Bruno circled the tree one more time then rolled over to Horace and , wearing a big grin said, “It’s not as easy as it looks.” Bruno handed the unicycle to Horace and sat down. Horace inspected it for a moment then grabbed his long white night shirt, stuffed it in his waste band, and climbed on the seat. He put his left foot on the peddle and then, when he lifted his right foot to start, he fell on his face. Bruno gave a loud roar, grabbed his stomach with both front paws and rolled over with laughter. He was having a hard time catching his breath because he was laughing so hard. Horace did not think it was so funny. He got up, brushed himself off, got back on the seat and promptly fell over again. Horace said, “Okay, can you teach me, I want to learn.”
Bruno went to one of the wagons and returned with a length of rope. Abbasonn had returned and was asked to tie one end of the rope to a tree branch about five feet off the ground. The rope was pulled tight and tied at about the same height to another tree located about thirty feet away. Bruno told Horace to place the unicycle directly beneath the rope, sit on the seat and grab hold of the rope with both hands. Then place both feet on the peddles. Horace looked at Bruno with a look that said, “Are you making fun of me?” Bruno said, “No, I’m serious. just do like I told you.“ Horace said, “Okay, but you better not be playing with me.” He did as he was told and found he could balance the unicycle very easily. Bruno told him to peddle very slowly and let the rope slide through his fingers. Horace peddled very slowly at first and after a few minutes found he could travel from one end of the rope to the other very quickly. He did this back and forth several times and was feeling very proud of his accomplishment. Bruno told Horace the trick was to learn to balance yourself then you could do it without the rope. Horace was still practicing when the camp fires went out and the moon came up.
The next morning all the camp was up early making preparations for the days journey. Horace was sitting on the unicycle seat, peddling back and forth with a big grin on his face. Bruno and Blanco walked over to where Horace was and both began to clap loudly. Horace blushed and said, “Thank you, thank you.” “But I know I could never have done this without your help.” “Thank you so much.” Bruno said, “Well, my young friend, we must now get you your own so you can continue to improve.” “One day you may also be on stage.” Horace blushed even more. Horace said, “Where do you get one?” Blanco said, “I know a man with this group who can make you one. I will talk to him.” Horace said, “I would be so grateful and would take good care of it.” Blanco replied, “I know you would Horace, I know you would.”
Abbasonn, Durant and Bentaub asked Horace and Aunt Matt to sit with them and had have coffee while the wagons were made ready for the journey. Dylan ran around the group chasing his imaginary tail. Abbasonn said they should take careful note of the surrounding landmarks so they could find they way back when they returned to the boat. It was the first time Horace had ever thought of a return. Horace felt a little pang of sadness when he considered that the adventure would soon be over. He looked around the circle of friends and knew, they were truly his friends. They had been through so much together, it would be hard to leave them. He felt so lucky to have met each and every one of them. He sat looking at the fire and his thoughts returned to Evangeline, Donkey, Guiensenbach, and the four baby geese. He hoped they would be there when he returned. He was thinking of his father and mother and how long he had been away from Placidshire when Dylan jumped in his lap and began licking his face, Aunt Matt looked at Horace and said. “Why so sad my red headed friend, the adventure has just begun.” She had startled him and he replied, “Nothing, I’m just thinking.”
It was later that morning when the lead wagon started out down the trail through the forest. The caravan of a dozen gypsy wagons moved slowly. Horace and his friends walked behind the little dwarf and his bear riding a unicycle who was leading the parade. It was a rather unusual sight. As they walked along Blanco told Horace there were two or three small villages they would pass through before they arrived at Mottlee and he was not sure what their names were. He was certain that in one of these villages they could obtain the material necessary to finish a unicycle for him. He explained to Horace that he had spoken to the gypsy craftsman who would build it, and was told it would take only a couple of days to construct, Horace could hardly wait.
Late that afternoon they arrived at the edge of a small clearing in the forest and it was decided that it would provide a good place to spend the night. A small creek was nearby and it could provide water for the livestock. Horace was helping with the animals when Aunt Matt walked up and asked if there was anything she could do to help. He thanked her for the offer but said they were almost finished. They both sat down by the creeks edge and Horace was trying to skip rocks without much success. Aunt Matt watched for a few minutes, snickered and said, “Your not very good, are you?” Horace said, “I’m getting better.” Just then his rock missed the water and went completely over the creek into the bushes. He looked at her and said, “See, I was aiming at the bushes.” She said, “Yea, right.” All of the sudden a rustling could be heard coming from the bushes across the creek. A loud shill voice could be heard yelling things they both could not understand. A small Opossum walked out of the bushes rubbing its head and looked at them both with glaring red eyes. He stood there for a moment then said, “Boy, you better be glad you are on the other side of this creek and I can’t swim.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa”, said Aunt Matt, “that was an accident so don’t get all bent out of shape.” Horace said, “I’m sorry, I had no idea you were there. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” The Opossum continued to rub his head and said, Naw, I’m okay, guess I shouldn’t have been sleeping in those particular bushes.” He then laughed in a little voice and said, “My name is Bob.” “What’s yours?” Horace introduced himself and Aunt Matt to Bob. Horace said, “We are camping in the clearing over here for the night, would you like to join us for coffee?” Bob said thanks for the invite and he would be there in a minute. He walked over to a small tree that had fallen across the creek and walked over to their side. Horace turned to Aunt Matt and said, “Now that’s balance.” As Bob was making his way over to their side, Horace told Aunt Matt, “You know something?” “I don’t have the trouble remembering things like I once did. I sure like it better this way. I feel like I’m a lot smarter than I used to be.” Aunt Matt looked at Horace for a long moment, grinned and said, “Yeah, right, you’re getting smarter every day.” Horace said, “No I’m serious. She said, “Me too.”
The three new friends walked back to the wagons together. Horace introduced Bob to the other campers and poured him a cup of coffee. They sat around the camp fire and discussed the days events. Bruno rode his unicycle and entertained the crowd that had gathered. Blanco played his pan flute. It was a grand evening.
Bob told them he had lived by the creek all his life and had lots of friends that lived nearby. He said he had never been further than a half a days journey from this very spot. He said he was very happy to be exactly where he was in this world. He could not understand wanting to travel all